Dang near had a heart attack!!! Continue reading

“Don’t know many folks these days, Ed, that go for gizzards…but obviously you were brung up right!” I smiled, thinking of my upbringing. Continue reading

Anyone who has spent any time in West Texas (and even those who haven’t) know that West Texans are famous for telling stories, some true, some not-so-true. Continue reading

After the RanchHand bumper, she went under the front tires, then the back tires and then the trailer tires. Continue reading

"Truman's famous sign - 'The buck stops here' - tells only half the story. Citizens cannot escape the ultimate responsibility. It is in the voting booth, not on the presidential desk, that the buck finally stops." Continue reading

Are you going to Vote? Continue reading

So, today, this car (a BMW), catches up to me about five miles out of San Angelo as I return to the ranch. I'm running 65 mph, maybe 70. It pulls up to my bumper, maybe two BMW car lengths away. As a good West Texan, I had already pulled over to the shoulder to let it pass. Continue reading

It has been told that Leasel Bobo Harris stood on the rough wood planking of a buckboard wagon amidst all his family’s worldly belongings as Sam Houston’s army attacked Santa Anna’s Mexican army at San Jacinto, Texas that pivotal, sunny but sultry day, April 21, 1836. He was nine years old. Continue reading

I assigned myself the task of counting 100 vehicles on the highway and in town as I traveled to note how many drivers were using mobile phones as they drove (Yes, there ARE at least 100 over here where I live in West Texas). Starting at the ranch gate, I began counting. First vehicle was a pickup; no...but he waved as he passed with his index finger like friendly folks do out here. Next, a Ford Taurus. Yep, the gal was on her phone. Next vehicle, no. Next vehicle, no. Next vehicle, yes. And so on, and so on. Continue reading

“Tomorrow morning you are to meet with one of my two sons at daylight. They will question you and decide whether or not you can hire on. Okay?” “Yes sir!” said Vic, unable to suppress a toothy smile. “Yes sir!” He slapped on his hat holding onto it to keep the winds from blowing it off, eased over to his pony, gathered up the reins and started to walk over to the small barn. Continue reading

This is a re-post of a slide show I did in 2009…no less appropriate for this year… © Copyright 2012 Edward Blackburn. All rights reserved. Continue reading

Continue reading

“Ya know, Ed,” said Vic, breaking the silence that had enveloped us as we dined. “I gotta ask ya this, ‘cause I been wonderin’…” and fell silent. “What?” I asked. Emilio looked up. “Yer family is pretty well off, and you could be over there in Houston in air conditioning, eating three squares a day made up by your folk’s servants and all, and playin’ around with your friends, girls and all, in backyard swimmin’ pools and all. How come it that you come out here all the time, away from all that comfort?” Continue reading

Braced against the plate glass windows of “the store”, one hand held beside his eyes for a better look and beneath a fidgety “OPEN” neon sign was an old man in a denim work shirt and jeans held up with suspenders. His cap was cocked back on his head which was mostly bald. Continue reading

Rain!” I said to myself, and gazed through the neighborhood trees at the dark gray clouds covering the western sky that only a few hours earlier was pure azure blue and cloudless. “Hot ziggity, rain!” Continue reading

I had put a little less than a hundred yards between the white pickup and me with the curve just ahead when suddenly, in a blink, a buzzard sailed out of the pasture from the right and crashed into the front hood on my F-150 with a sickening thud, feathers exploding into my windshield and immediately disappearing over my roof. Continue reading

So, I’m standing right next to the cattle guard. As I finally find the .22 in my pocket (it’s one of those balloony cargo pant pockets) and pull it out with my thumb and index finger, the little front sight catches on the pocket button and flips out of my hand into…yep, into the darkness of the pit beneath the cattle guard, banging metallically against one of the pipes. Continue reading

Within the hour, I had saddled up with my very old saddle and a large red towel for a saddle blanket that had been left at the ranch house by my friend Molly couple of years ago . Off I went....across one pasture, then another. Startled whitetails sprinted off, tails flagging the apparent danger I presented; a covey of quail skittering off into the brush as I passed. Buzzards circling in the sky, riding the light breeze. A jack rabbit frozen beneath a mesquite bush, hoping not to be discovered. A grey fox disappeared in the corner of my eye in a blink. Continue reading

Vic was looking at several calves and their mommas off to his left when he ran by a big mesquite in the fence line to the right which swept through my open window and delivered, into my lap and all over me, hundreds… no, thousands…no zillions of small red ants! “Ahh! Ahhhh! Ahhhhhhh!” I screamed, as the ants scurried all over my hands, shirt, jeans, cowboy boots and who knows where else. Continue reading

Many thanks to all of you who have encouraged me to keep banging away at my storytelling Continue reading

freaked me out when it barked! Continue reading

I opened the iron gate, as quietly as I could and approached the open front door and stopped immediately in my tracks. There, in the darkened shadows of the hallway interior of the Hunter’s Cabin stood, on its hind legs, a very furry animal, gazing directly at me, as I gazed at it. In a flash, it disappeared, into the shadows beyond. Continue reading

Any of you like these stories? Or am I just wasting my time… Continue reading

Only thing was, he had a passel of porcupine spines stuck all over his muzzle. Continue reading